“ While the Chinese-Vatican agreement is not the direct cause of this persecution, the accord emboldens government authorities, who claim that “the Vatican supports us,” local Catholics of the diocese of Handang told AsiaNews, the official press agency of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions.”
https://www.breitbart.com/asia/2019/11/02/chinese-catholics-say-vatican-china-accord-fuels-christian-persecution/
